Planet of the Furballs
by general zargon
Summary: Because not every offworld visit ends with Jack O'Neill injured and/or running for his life. He would forever deny that he snuggled with the fluffy creatures though. Rated for one bad word (hey, this is O'Neill we're talking about!).
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: Hey everybody, this is basically just something I wrote to get my writing motivation back up – and to those still waiting for me to update my other fics, I'm really sorry! Please be patient, and I hope you readers enjoy my first foray into the Stargate: SG-1 fandom!_

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Colonel Jack O'Neill couldn't believe what was happening. Of all the situations that he had been in, both before and after he joined the Stargate Project, this one definitely ranked in the Top 5 in terms of strange.

The good kind of strange though, he decided as he looked across the cave to the giant ball of fur curled up against the wall, leaning back against his own fuzzy pillow as he glanced out towards the cave entrance, wincing as another unnaturally loud boom of this planet's version of thunder rang out.

P3X-714 had seemed like a nice enough planet through the MALP transmission, with a breathable atmosphere, some really nice forests, a lot of grass, and two moons. Pretty much what the SG-1 team had expected when they arrived through the Stargate, with the exception of the fact that the trees had blue leaves instead of green ones. Carter had gone into full science-mode at the sight of them and kept spouting partial theories about why they were that particular shade of dark blue instead of something else.

Of course, the keyword there was _seemed_, and SG-1 had quickly figured out that the planet was definitely not as nice as it had looked through the transmission. Namely they had discovered the quickly changing weather, the fact that the atmosphere on P3X-714 leaned towards extremes, and that it apparently believed whole-heartedly in the saying 'when it rains, it pours'. The once sunny sky had clouded over in less than ten minutes, and three minutes and a sound like thunder crossed with a banshee's scream later had seen the start of the rainstorm from hell, or so Jack thought.

In the course of trying to see through the impenetrable wall of rain, he had somehow gotten separated from the rest of the team and had been completely soaked to the bone in seconds. It hadn't taken long until he had gotten turned around and wandering in the opposite direction of the Stargate, and since he hadn't noticed any cliffs between camp and the 'Gate, he had decided to try and find a cave or an overhang or something and get out of the downpour. After all, who knew if the rain was just water or if there was some chemical or mineral in it that would turn his skin blue (again) or worse?

With visions of Doc Fraiser and many needles dancing in his head to motivate him, it hadn't taken him long to find the cave he was currently holed up in. Of course, it was only after he'd taken off his boots to dump the water out of them and shrugged off his SG pack to let that dry that he noticed the giant balls of fur scattered around the cave. There must have been something in the rain, Jack had told himself; because there was no way he would have normally taken that long to notice couch-sized balls of fluff!

One of the fluff-balls rustled in a way that had nothing to do with a draft, and then a large, furry head that was actually – and he wouldn't say it out loud even under threat of no pudding – _cute_. Seriously, the thing had large, shimmering amber eyes that practically screamed 'Look at me! I'm cute! Want to snuggle?' and its' body, covered in a cream-colored fluffy coat, was pretty much just icing on the proverbial cake. And after five minutes of them staring at each other, the thing _cheeped _at him and then the furry head disappeared into the pile of fluff that was the creature's body.

The Colonel had just shrugged and decided to go with the assumption that the furry things were harmless and okay, _maybe _the fur looked enticingly soft and just right for a pillow – but he couldn't be blamed for that!

He had upended his boots to help the water inside drain out faster and then went to make himself comfortable against the giant furball closest to him. Coincidentally, said furball was also the one who had poked its' head up at him, and the thing didn't seem to mind, so he took that as permission. Or at least that was what he was planning on telling Daniel if the archeologist tried to make a big thing out of it.

Now Jack was enjoying the chance to sit back, relax, and wait for the storm to pass so he could find out where he was and then head back to the 'Gate. All in all, O'Neill thought cheerfully as he snuggled back into his living pillow, he could definitely think of worse ways to spend a visit off-world.

_Author's Note: And there you have it! Be sure to drop me a review and tell me what you guys thought! Did you love it? Hate it? Want to see what was happening with the rest of SG-1 while Jack was relaxing with the Furballs (who totally deserve the capital letter) and waiting out the storm?_


	2. The team's side

_Author's Note: Well, my muse has decided to yield to the reviewers, and so here is chapter 2, featuring what was going on with the rest of the team while Jack was relaxing with the Furballs. ^.^ I hope you all enjoy it!_

The storm had come out of nowhere, with only one burst of that planet's version of thunder as a warning, and SG-1 had had no time to try and make it to shelter before they were all soaked through to the skin. Thick sheets of falling rain made it nearly impossible for the team to see more than two feet in front of their faces, and it was because of that that they'd become separated from the Colonel so quickly.

With Teal'c taking point, Daniel Jackson in the middle, and Carter bringing up the rear, the team staggered through the deluge in search of some kind of shelter, or at least something to lessen the impact of the falling rain. They didn't know if the rain was harmless or if there was some kind of chemical and/or mineral that was harmful to humans in the liquid, so that just increased their urgency.

His mind running over all the possible things that could result from exposure to an alien chemical, Daniel almost ran right into the back of Teal'c when the Jaffa suddenly stopped. He felt a small pressure on his own back as Sam ran into him, and his wet shirt tightened around the front when she grabbed hold of the back to keep herself from falling.

"What's going on, guys?!" Sam's voice came from right behind his ear as the hold on his shirt released. Daniel was also curious, but thankfully they didn't have to stand around in the deluge waiting for answers very long.

Teal'c pointed off to the side, and through the thick sheets of rain they were able to just barely make out a copse of trees where the rainfall looked noticeably thinner. Daniel would have sighed in relief if not for Sam shoving at his back to get him to move towards the promised shelter, and he didn't even try to resist as he followed Teal'c towards the trees. Sam covered their back, but it was still slow going on the way to the trees, mostly because of the mud, wind, and poor visibility.

There was a dual sigh of relief from Sam and Daniel when they finally reached the stand of trees, and it turned out that the native plants actually did block out a great deal of the rain. Even Teal'c looked glad to be out of the worst of the rain, though a regular person probably wouldn't have seen the difference in the Jaffa's features. Luckily Daniel and Sam weren't regular people, and they noticed the way the corners of his mouth loosened the tiniest bit, which was just as good as a sigh of relief in the language of Teal'c.

While the majority of the rain was blocked by the overhead branches, a decent amount of it still managed to get through, so the only real difference their shelter made was the lessening of the deluge to a regular rain shower. Still, it was a great relief, and the three of them quickly found the driest spot (which wasn't saying much) in the copse of trees. To no one's surprise, that spot happened to be under the tree with the thickest branches.

The SG-1 team got themselves comfortable around the base of it: meaning Daniel propped himself up against the trunk and futilely tried to clean his glasses, Sam sat next to him on the right, and Teal'c sat stiffly on Daniel's left side, leaving the archaeologist boxed in on three sides. Considering that they were close enough to share body heat and the cold was starting to set in now that they didn't have the distraction of pounding rain, none of them minded.

Granted, the persistent drizzle _was_ annoying, but it didn't occupy the front of their minds anymore.

"Do you think the Colonel's okay?" Sam asked quietly, breaking the still silence that had settled over the trio, and Daniel blinked as he was jolted out of his thoughts about whether the rain had anything harmful to humans (or Jaffa) in it.

The archaeologist frowned slightly, a troubled furrow forming between his brows as he answered, "I'm sure Jack is fine…he probably did what we did and found somewhere to wait out the worst of the rain…" he trailed off uncertainly, not wanting to give voice to his concerns over what could happen to the colonel if he _didn't _find shelter. Think positive, Daniel told himself firmly, and then tried to futilely wipe the water droplets from the lenses of his glasses. He ignored the small voice in his head (that sounded suspiciously like Jack) that told him he was just freaking himself out by thinking of the rain as anything but regular rain and concentrated on keeping as warm as possible while trying to ignore the weird feeling of cold rain drops sliding down the back of his neck. He wasn't very successful, but it was the thought that counted, right?

Sam nodded uncertainly, glancing out the way they had entered the copse of trees and hoping fervently that the Colonel had indeed found shelter and that SG-1's infamous bad luck hadn't struck him when he had been separated from the rest of them. Biting her lip nervously, she looked up towards the broad blue leaves of the tree giving them shelter, distracting herself by running theories through her head about why the foliage was such an unusual color. It wasn't much, but it was the best she could do as she shifted closer to Daniel's body-heat and shivered, not entirely from the cold though she would deny it if asked.

Teal'c was silent, having never been one to voice pointless reassurances when he didn't know the state of one of his comrades. Though he would be lying if he said that he wasn't worried for the state of his commander, he could not afford to let himself be distracted from remaining vigilant against threats that might endanger the comrades that were there with him. He held his staff weapon confidently, prepared to fight any creature that thought SG-1 would be easy pickings, eyes slowly scanning the area around them for anything that might be dangerous.

For almost three hours, everything was quiet save for the sound of the rain pounding against the trees and against the ground, with the occasional blast of that planet's version of thunder that Daniel would actually be hard-pressed to describe if asked. The rain was still going strong, and all three of them were cold, drenched, and miserable, not to mention wondering when the storm would let up.

Sam didn't dare voice her suspicions that perhaps on P3X-714 the storms possibly lasted days, maybe even weeks. They had no way of knowing since the only information they had on the planet's environment was what the MALP had provided, and it hadn't been raining when they had sent the machine through the Gate.

The major still couldn't get over how quickly the weather had changed from sunny to, well, _this_ so quickly. It boggled the mind, but at least it helped to give her something to think about while they waited for the rain to stop. Judging by the steady way it was pouring now though, she thought resignedly, it looked like they were in for a long wait. She subconsciously huddled closer to Daniel, feeling the archaeologist lean back into her as they tried to conserve what little heat they had left. She was actually contemplating asking Teal'c to come closer, since his greater mass would mean he cranked out more body heat, but she held her tongue and resisted the urge.

She mentally swore to herself that once they got back home, she was curling up at home under all the blankets she could find with a hot water bottle, a large cup of cocoa, and not coming out until someone came to drag her back to work. Unknown to her, the archaeologist next to her was thinking almost the exact same thing, with the addition of a hot shower before crawling under that aforementioned mound of blankets…

Teal'c suddenly tensed, followed shortly by both Daniel and Sam when they saw what had the Jaffa on alert: a large shape was lumbering into the copse of trees, the darkness of the rain and trees preventing them from making out any details of what it was.

Weapons were trained warily on the approaching thing, even if Sam doubted that their guns would even work considering how waterlogged they were, though the staff weapon Teal'c was holding would probably be more effective considering the environment. If Sam had had to guess, she would say that whatever-it-was was at least the size of a adolescent rhino, maybe a bit smaller, and she could only hope that whatever the thing was, it was either a vegetarian or didn't want to try figuring out if SG-1 was food or not.

The creature lumbered further into the minor shelter provided by the group of trees, and Daniel mentally speculated on whether it was taking its' time or if it naturally moved that slowly, like the turtles on earth did…Stay on track, Jackson, he scolded himself, find out if they would have to climb a tree or something to avoid it, and then debate over its' physiology. Jack would be proud of him for prioritizing, he couldn't help thinking, and that just brought back his worries over the colonel which wasn't helping his concentration one bit.

Startled out of his thoughts by an odd chuffing sound from the direction of the large creature, he blinked and looked over at it, trying to see through the rain spots on his glasses. The thing had stopped roughly in the middle of the impromptu shelter, which was close enough to SG-1 that the trio could now make out some of the thing's features.

It was large, roughly the size of an adolescent rhino as Sam had estimated, and there appeared to be feelers on each side of what had to be the creature's snout – four on each side, and each feeler was about three feet long. The creature's general body shape seemed to resemble a crocodile in that it was scaled and had a tail that looked like it could do serious damage if used as a weapon. The storm and the shadows of the trees kept them from picking up details about the creature, but Sam noticed the impression of wide nostrils along with wicked looking teeth in its' mouth when it opened its' mouth enough to allow its' tongue to peek out.

Teal'c was the only one able to see the impression of several lines of fur on the beast's body, not to mention the various fins along the creature's back.

Daniel managed to peer through the water spots on his glasses, looked towards where he thought the thing's feet were, and saw four limbs with five toes each. And on the tip of each of those toes was a claw that looked like it was meant for serious digging, and _that_ meant that they were razor sharp.

A shudder ran through the archaeologist, along with the thought that he definitely didn't want to find out if those claws were as sharp as they looked. He had the strong feeling that he wouldn't like the answer, and through sheer force of will he managed to move his gaze from said claws to where he suspected the animal's face was…just in time to lock his own light blue eyes with the creature's burning yellow ones.

Everything seemed to freeze, and it was like Daniel was mesmerized, falling deeper into the lizard-creature's bright yellow gaze, unconsciously leaning closer until Sam grabbed hold of his shoulder. The pain of Sam digging her nails into his skin through the fabric of his shirt apparently broke whatever spell the creature had cast on him, and he shook his head in bewilderment. Confused about how much time had passed, what had just happened, and feeling like he had just run a marathon, Daniel nonetheless managed to croak out, "Whatever you do, _don't look at its' eyes_," before he returned to gasping for breath.

He saw Teal'c nod from the corner of his eye, and he felt more than saw Sam's response as his heart rate, which had skyrocketed during his brief – or at least he hoped brief – stint hypnotized by the animal, gradually returned to normal. He took several deep breaths, trying to get his breathing under control along with his heart rate as he studiously avoided looking anywhere near the strange creature's eyes. Although, he was comforted by the fact that he could see that Teal'c had yet to move his staff weapon away from its' position pointed at the animal.

Considering what had just happened to him, Daniel doubted that it would until the creature left, and he definitely felt better for that knowledge. What the archaeologist didn't mention was the feeling of being sucked down, of being surrounded by that glowing color until there was nothing left but the creature's eyes. Somehow, he didn't think revealing that would make the situation any better, so he held his tongue and warily watched the animal's feet, just in case it decide to come closer to the three of them.

Thankfully, after what Sam guessed was ten minutes, the creature lay down where it had been standing and seemed content to just stay where it was. Sam glanced at Teal'c and caught the Jaffa's eye, silently mouthing to him, '_Sleep in shifts?_' and receiving a simple nod in reply. The scientist nudged Daniel and repeated what she had mouthed to Teal'c, receiving the same nod, though it took several more silent conversations paired with various facial expressions before they decided who went to sleep first.

In the end, Daniel lost the silent debate and got the first sleeping shift, which he frowned at but didn't argue about, instead leaning against Sam and closing his eyes to try and actually get to sleep. Body heat helped, he thought as his consciousness gradually began fading into sleep, but if they didn't figure out some other way to warm up it was very likely that they were all going to come down with something.

Sam looked down at Daniel's head, pillowed on her shoulder and glasses askew, and then looked back at Teal'c, catching his eye before glancing back at the animal they were watching. There was a lot they didn't know about it, so there might be side-effects from Daniel meeting its' eyes, and considering SG-1's track record Sam figured she was entitled to a little worrying. The look Teal'c sent back said that he agreed, and she relaxed minutely when the large man shifted so that he wasn't holding the staff weapon straight out while still keeping it trained on the creature.

A smile tugged at her mouth, because they had never mentioned anything to Daniel about how long the shifts would be, and with both her and Teal'c on guard, the archaeologist would be able to get a decent rest. Since they didn't know long the storm would last or how long night lasted on P3X-714, each of them would need all the rest they could get in order to avoid getting sick or worse, _eaten_ by the lizard-creature or another animal. Trusting Teal'c to watch the creature already there, Sam looked towards the direction the animal had come from, just in case something else wandered into their impromptu shelter.

Teal'c kept his eyes trained on the lizard-creature, able to focus more fully on watching it for any movement as Major Carter took over watch of the way they and the animal had entered the slight shelter provided by the trees. It was easy for him to keep alert for any threats, as he had performed kel-no-reem just before they had embarked on this mission and he would not have to enter the trance state for several more Earth days unless he was injured.

He had no intention of allowing that to happen while one of his comrades was missing and two others were in danger. The ways of humans might sometimes be mysteries to him, but he had been a member of SG-1 long enough to learn that some things, which would not even bother a Jaffa, could prove detrimental to a human's health. From what he had heard, prolonged exposure to wet and cold climates was one of those things, and that meant both Major Carter and Daniel Jackson were in danger from more than just the lizard-creature.

The Jaffa wouldn't allow anything to happen to either of them if there was anything he could do to stop it, and right now the only way he could do that was make sure that the lizard-creature didn't get the chance to figure whether or not it liked the taste of human flesh. Or that of Jaffa, if things came to that.

The next few hours passed in a tense, watchful silence, before the animal abruptly shoved itself to its' feet, turned around, and lumbered back out of the minor shelter, not even looking in the direction of the three humanoids.

Sam breathed a deep sigh of relief, and the muscles around Teal'c's eyes loosened which was pretty much his version of the same thing. At least now they wouldn't have to worry about the lizard-thing getting hungry and deciding to take a go at them.

Daniel slept on, a thin line of drool coming from the corner of his mouth to mingle with the rain on Sam's shoulder, and the scientist wrinkled her nose in slight disgust but didn't say anything. The archaeologist needed his rest, and the alien rain would rinse away the drool, so there was no point getting worked up. She exchanged glances with Teal'c, and wordlessly she closed her eyes and prepared to catch some shut eye of her own. Daniel wasn't the only one who needed their rest, and she trusted that Teal'c would wake her and Daniel up when the rain started to let up.

What felt like minutes but was probably more like hours later, Sam bolted awake to the feeling of a large hand shaking her shoulder, and her eyes darted around before landing on Daniel, the one who had woke her up. She blinked, belatedly loosening her grip on her gun, and she sleepily asked, "What's going on? Is the lizard-thing back?"

"No, better than that," Daniel responded, an oddly excited note to his voice as he said, "The rain's stopping!" just when Sam became conscious of the fact that she didn't feel any drops of moisture landing on her.

"Oh, thank goodness," She breathed out as she stood up, stumbling as her legs, which had long since fallen asleep, protested the sudden change in position. Teal'c stopped her from falling on her face, grabbing her arm to support her, and she smiled thankfully at him. The Jaffa nodded back in acknowledgement, and the three of them quickly gathered up everything they had set down and prepared to start moving towards the Stargate, which was what Jack would be doing.

Yet another hour - and a sprained ankle on Daniel's part - later and SG-1 finally reunited with their commander who was shockingly dry and cheerful. When they learned what had happened to Jack during the debriefing, they were understandably put out that while they had been cold and miserable, Jack had been dry, comfortable, and very relaxed in the company of some of the planet's natives.

It took a week before Jack was allowed to have any pudding in the mess hall, much to the colonel's chagrin.

_Author's Note: As you can see, the rest of SG-1 had a bit harder time of it than Jack did, because I'm evil like that. :P And now that that plot bunny has been taken care of, I now turn my attention to the other bunnies that are planning to ambush me. *Looks over at horde of plot bunnies approaching with a net* Guys, I can see you over there…*Runs away* Anyway, please review and tell me what you think! As always, constructive criticism is welcome!_


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